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VIDEO: Patient characteristics, tumor type play role in response to immunotherapy
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The use of immune-based therapies in oncology is “an area of intense interest,” according to Suzanne Topalian, MD, of the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center and Bloomberg-Kimmel Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy.
Patient characteristics and tumor type both play a role in determining the likelihood of response to anti–PD-1, anti–PD-L1, anti-CTLA-4 and other immune-based therapies, Topalian said. In particular, she highlights the microsatellite instability-high phenotype as well as cancers associated with a virus, which have both been correlated with increased responses to anti-PD-1 agents.
One such example is Merkel cell carcinoma, which is associated with a polyomavirus. While this is a “relatively new area” of anti-PD-1 research, the disease has shown “a fairly high response rate” to anti-PD-1 therapy, according to Topalian.